The Village Child (1992)

The third and final piece in the Heaven Trilogy. It is a metaphysical mystery, a blend of old vaudeville and Jewish supernatural tales. It is the story of a man caught between the glare of public life and the dark world within him, the story of an obsession with flying machines and a child who speaks with birds. And it is about what happens to us when we build a ghetto, even within ourselves. The Village Child, continues the theme of integrating the voices of history in our lives.

The story of a puppeteer trying to build the ultimate puppet — one which will fly. His puppets range from Da Vinci-like flying machines to metaphors, “flights of the mind.” One day a large bird flies through his window and, as he wrestles with it, it transforms into a child, a girl. The man builds a sandbox for her, and she, in turn, builds a village there, out of sand. Birds come to live in the village. It is as if the child and the birds were all recreating some life in their past, and perhaps in the man’s past, too. But as much as the man is fascinated, he hates the birds, and can only value them insofar as they further his work. He is caught between his public persona and the call of some other voice — perhaps the voice of our cultural memory. A show full of vaudeville-style theatricality and dream-like imagery.

Created by

Eric Bass

Directed by

Richard Edelman

Music by

Charles Dodge

Performed by

Eric Bass, Ines Zeller Bass, Finn Campman

“With The Village Child, Eric Bass and Sandglass Theater have succeeded in creating a language characterized by an outstanding subtlety, endowing the puppet with an unexpected impact.”